"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ would take the slums out of people, and then they would take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature...Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world."
Ezra Taft Benson

Nov 15, 2011

Stick to the status quo (oh-oh-oooh )

I just got that High School Musical song stuck in your head, didn't I? Apologies.

It popped into my head when I saw this:

"It is difficult, if not impossible, for most people to think otherwise than in the fashion of their own period."~George Bernard Shaw

How true, eh?? The High School Musical song suggests that people act/think the same to fit in and be cool.

(Not saying that isn't a factor. But let's go further.)

A lot of the time I think people don't think differently because that's just how they think. (Waiting for someone to say "duh.") Challenging natural assumptions of life is difficult because...why would you think to challenge them? The thing about "natural assumptions" is that they are inherently "natural"...you haven't necessarily consciously decided to think that way. Think about it.

Because of this, I've found that I'm a lot more empathetic towards people I learn about in history classes who do stupid things. Not that I think they should do those stupid/terrible/biased/ignorant things. But I can see how perhaps their thinking was more natural than radical to them. Sometimes. Maybe?

How do you think differently than you currently think? By encountering different ideas?Perhaps by coming up with new ideas?

This leads me to another quote, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. (This one happens to be printed upon a wall at work.)

"This time, like all times, is a very good one if we but know what to do with it."

What are the fashions of thought in our time?

Maybe identifying them can help us evaluate what we think (what we naturally assume?) and how we can move forward to make this time a very good one.

I just used the word "think" thirteen times. (Make that fourteen.) I think I think too much ;)